Pastor Elena Liliana Stahlberg

Pastor

"A covenant is a promise. I make a promise to walk with you on the journey of faith and life. I promise to listen to you, to care for you and to love you; I promise to honor your history, to lead and to grow with you. I promise to be faithful to God and to the congregation, and together follow into the footsteps of Jesus, the true head of the church, our teacher and our model for discipleship." --- Pastor Liliana

With joy and gratitude, our congregation overwhelmingly approved Pastor Liliana Stahlberg as our permanent pastor at our 2017 Annual Meeting. She was installed as the permanent pastor on Sunday, February 25, 2018 after serving as our Pastor for Redevelopment from September 2016 through February 2018.

Her wealth of experience, passion for social justice, and deep understanding of theology are gifts to our congregation. She loves children and music and strives to support people regardless of where they are on their faith journey.

Pastor Liliana brings a tremendous depth and breadth of life experiences to her ministry at Lord of the Mountains. Born in Romania, she was raised in the Orthodox tradition. In 2001 she served the Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania-AIDRom, an agency working for the development and implementation of social justice programs in Romania. This agency was a cooperative effort between the World Council of Churches in Geneva and the Lutheran, Christian Reformed and Orthodox churches in Romania. Through her work with the World Council of Churches, she was introduced to other Christian traditions and came to embrace the Lutheran faith. She graduated from Iliff School of Theology and was ordained in 2009 at Highlands Lutheran Church.

From 1998 to 2000, Pastor Liliana served as Director of St. Macrina Shelter for Street Children and Youth in Romania. “After receiving training in working with homeless youth in the USA, I returned to Romania and started a program for street children. This program developed over the years into a shelter for children. St. Macrina shelter continues its work with disadvantaged children to this day.”

Prior to coming to Lord of the Mountains, Pastor Liliana served as senior pastor at Highlands Lutheran Church in Denver. Previously, she was the Youth Director at Advent Lutheran Church in Denver from 2004 to 2007 and the Covenant Group Leader at Faith Track Youth Camp, Iliff School of Theology.